Spring suspension of vehicles



May 17, 1932. T. MUNRO 1,859,104

SPRING SUSPENSION OF VEHICLES Filed May 7, 1929 *20 Still another objectis Patented May 17, 1932 THOMAS MUNno, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA' j SPRING SUSPENSION or VEHICLES Application sled May 7, 1929.7 ,seriali No. 361,173. l

The object of the invention is to provide improvements in spring systems designed for the operative support of vehicles and particularly motor cars and the 'like adapted for pas- 5 senger conveyance.

Another object more specifically is to provide a spring system comprising independent elements, each being connected by a substantially fixed pivot at one end, andby a sliding 110 engagement at the other end tothe frame or other suitable `part of a vehicle.

A. further object is to provide an'element so mounted and normally tending-to rest substantially in its own plane, and when 15 flexed .out of `and upon either side ofsaid plane, tending to return to such tion,V though the neutral position of the spring element when loaded may be to one side of thenaturali planeof said element.

to provide a singleI leaf, relatively wide springv element pivotally secured at one end. either directly or through the medium of sound-deadening material to the chassis frame of a vehicle,while the opposite. end of said element is slidably supported. by one, Vor between'a pair of, anti-friction members,.such as roller bearingsmounted in a suitable housing, vsecured to another part o f said frame either directly to anL extension of the latter7 or through the medium off a yielding member having' a different natural period yvarying from that of the-spring element. v f l And astill further object 1s to. provide ay 35 spring support particularly adapted for use upon such vehicles as automobiles and thel like to provide the following function. At present by way of contrast, .the alternately applied motive power and brake force are frequently under the control of persons who are not of high mechanicalv training or even intelligence, and as a result the sudden appli# cation of the motive power through the usual clutch creates an equally sudden jerk upon the supporting springs their longitudinal axes, and a corresponding jar is conveyed to the vehicle and itsuoccupants, while a sudden application of the brakes causes correspondingtjerks and jar in the opposite direction. y

neutral posi-I in alignment with' However, `the present invention provides i forv the slanting of the longitudinal axes of the supporting springs atan angle with `respect to the normal forward and rearward motion of kthe vehiele,1so that a considerable portion of each forwardly or rearwardly forcesuddenly app-lied, whether it be motive or braking in nature, is momentarily dissipated or partially absorbed by the springs,

after which itis relatively gradually con` s ducted to the body of the vehicle and toits occupants without imposing unpleasant jars thereupon. Thus, the supporting of the vehicle not onlyJ l)primarily carry the weight of the carand contents yieldingly. in a vertical direction, but of themselves serve asa buffer to protect the car andy contents against abrupt changes. in inertia ini substam tially horizontal directions; i

y With these and other objects in mind, the

present invention'. comprises furtherA details of construction and operation which are fully brought out in thefollowing description when read in conjunetion with the accompanying drawings, in` which Fig. 1 `is a side elevar tion of. a fragmentary portion of a vehicle chassis frame and. coo erfating springk system comprising one embo iment of theinvention and partly in section;` FigzZ is a similar view of a modified formof the device; Fig.l 3' is a section on the linefs of Fig. 1Q';"Fig. e is a sectionon the same line Y391-3k of Fig; 2 but showing' only the anti-friction bearing and Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary sec.- tion ofthe bearing and housingshown Fig. 2, but providing an adjustably tensioned spring for varying the effective' tension of the main spring; Y l Y Y f,

Referring' tok Fig'. 1,: any desired portion of any type of vehicle chassis 'i is shown as hav.-

ing iixedly secured to it at 2, one en clfportion of a preferably curved or loopedresilient member 3,v tothe outer free end 4- of which. is iXedly secured any suitable type'of hous-l ing having anelrongated aperture een trally positioned in one of. its walls, `'while upon the opposite sides of said aperture are suitable roller or other' form of antiffrietion bearings "Z, held fixed: position axially by any suitable means such for instance as the chassis frame spaced from the resilient member 3, said spring leaf extending thence toward and through the apertures llland 6 in*A said housing and in direct Vcontact with Athe adjacent portions of the curved surfaces of Vthe roller bearingsl?. To any desired intermediate portion of the spring leaf 12y the axle -housing 14.1is securedV in any suitable manner, as for instance-bymeans of the U- bolt 15 and oppositely .positioned plates 16.V

When Vthe vehicle is loaded, the spring 'assumessubstantially the position of the upper dot-and-dash linesl? and upon a rebound enters substantially the position shown by the lower dot-and-dash lines 18 and as the housing 5 is designed to be packed with grease or othersuitable lubricant, the free end por'- tion of saidspring leaf is adapted to oscillate slightly to-and-frothrough said housing in a manner whichis substantially devoid of frictional'. engagement with the resilient member3 due to the interpositioning of said anti-friction means. f

It will also be'noted that while the spring leaf l2 is relatively wide, asshown in Fig. 3, for its thickness and will thereforeaccommodate itself to vibrations between ordinary extreme limits, thefresiliency of the member 3 may be so proportioned to that of said spring leaf as to itself yield and sharel aportion of the force of unusual shocks exerted upon the spring leaf as the wheel indicated by dot-anddash lines 19 encounters some unusual ob-1 struction or road surface depression. In other words, the spring leaf 12 can readil be designed for any given weight of vehicle to operate'under usual conditions, but beyond which conditions further yielding lof the spring systemis taken care of by the member 3.V f

Referring to Fig. 2, the system here illustrated is similar to that shown in Fig. 1 except that the .chassis 1 is provided-with a substantially rigid reversely curved extension v3, to the outer end of whichv is secured the housing 5. Also, instead of securing the anti*- friction rollers 7 within said housing in direct contact with the inner surface ofthe walls of the latter, said roller bearingsmay be assembled as a unit in a'manner such as that illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, wherein 1a box or shell 20 is provided which partially surrounds thel oppositely positioned rollers 7 and is closed upon one side except for a trans.-

spring .as shown in Fig. lar edges of the mainspring l2 are notched f y erating load of3600 pounds.

' cordingly,

vbroadlyand'thatmany details of construction might be varied in practicing the invention such for instance as the pivotal connection of, one end of the spring leaf to the chassis and the antifrictional means whereby the free end of said spring leafisV likewise connectedeither Vdirectly Vor indirectly to said chassis. Furthermore, the effective resiliency of the said spring 12 may beV altered,.so `as to adapt the system of spring suspension of any given car to any desired normal load.

. Such an effect may be accomplished bythe interposition `of an adjustable.` auxiliary 5,' wherein the anguat 25 or otherwise constructedso as to receive and limit the movement .of a surroundmanner as to present a relativelyV A ing disc 26 thereon in one direction. A second disc 26 having :an enlarged central aperture 27` loosely surrounds the spring 12 with-k in the, housing. 5 and is adjustablypositioned *withr respect to the. closure. plate :l0 bymeansof vbolts 28 extending therethrough. Finally, between'said disc; and surrounding saidv spring 12 is a compression spring 29, Vthe'tension of .which is alteredy at Vwill by adjusting the .said bolts and` with theresult thatjthe transverse or vertical resiliency of the .main spring issupplemented by aasec# n ondary longitudinal resiliency, which cooperate Ato determine the properlifting power of a given main spring for a known load.

For` instance, aV certain f typeA of automobile weighing, 3000 pounds may leave the factory with a spring adjustment for If a family of two persons purchases thek car andexpects to operate it regularly at an average V.load

of approximately 3300 pounds, .the tension upon the auxiliary spring 2 8may Abe setacwhile an entirely different adjustment of saidlast-named spring is necessary for a family which may placeA upon the spring system of the vehicle an average of 3850 pounds. Obviously then the spring system of any car equipped with the present invention as thus described can be adjusted for any average load betweenY certain limits withoutsubstitutmganything for the stock equipment'supplied with the car.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim anddesire to protect by Letters Pat-v ent of theUnited States is Y' Y l. A springfsystem for vehicles, comprising the combination of a frame,a spring elean average op-y ment pivotally connected at one end to said frame and sldably connected at its opposite end to another portion of said frame through the medium of a resilient member having a natural period of vibration different from that of said element, and anti-friction means carried by the :tree end of said member and in direct engagement with the free end p0r-` tion of said element.

2. A spring system for vehicles, comprising the combination of a frame, a spring element pivotally connected at one end to said frame and slidably connected at its opposite end to another portion of said frame through the medium of a resilient member having a natural period of vibration different from that of said element, a lubricantcontaining housing carried by the free end of said member and provided with aligned openings and roller bearings Within said housing and in direct Contact with the free end of said spring element.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature.

THOMAS MUNRO. 

